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World Billionaires Grew 50% Richer In 2009
By Andre Damon
3-13-10

2009 will be remembered by millions of ordinary people
as the year they lost their job, their house, or the prospect of an education.
For the rich, however, it was a bonanza.

The world's billionaires saw their wealth grow by 50
percent last year, and their ranks swell to 1,011, from 793, according
to the latest Forbes list of billionaires.

The combined net worth of these 1,011 individuals increased
to $3.6 trillion, up $1.2 trillion from the year before. On average, each
billionaire had his or her wealth increase by $500 million.

Four hundred and three billionaires reside in the United
States. They constitute just 0.00014 percent of the country's total population,
but control 8 percent of the national wealth. Each of these individuals
holds over 300 million times more wealth than the average US resident.

The list included 21 hedge fund managers, who as a group
more than made up for whatever losses they incurred in 2008. Some of them,
including James Simons, John Arnold, and George Soros, raked in profits
during both the collapse and the market recovery.

Topping the list of wealthiest hedge fund managers was
John Paulson, at $32 billion. Paulson made billions in 2008 by betting
that the housing market would collapse, and billions more through the stock
market recovery of 2009.

Only one of the 21 hedge fund managers on last year's
Forbes list fell off. This was Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Group, who was
arrested last year on charges of insider trading.

Hedge fund managers James Simons, John Arnold, and David
Tepper got average returns of 62, 52, and 31 percent, respectively, between
2008 and 2010. David Tepper made $2.3 billion over the past year, while
John Paulson's wealth grew by $6 billion.

The number of US billionaires grew to 403, up from 359
last year. The Asia-Pacific region had 234 billionaires, up from 130 the
last year. Europe has 248 billionaires, despite having twice the population
of the United States.

The 1,011 people on this list command a phenomenal amount
of personal wealth. Their holdings are larger than the gross domestic products
of every country besides China, Japan, and the United States. The wealth
of the 403 US billionaires could more than cover the 2008 US federal deficit,
with money left over for the states.

While the number of billionaires on the list is just
short of the all-time high of 1,125 reached in 2007, it represents a phenomenal
rebound. At this rate, the number of billionaires will once again hit record
levels next year.

Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican telecommunications
tycoon, moved up to the first position on the list at $53.5 billion, beating
out Americans Bill Gates ($53 billion) and Warren Buffet ($47 billion).
The wealth of all three men rose dramatically. Over the last several years
Slim Helú made roughly $27 million a day compared with the average
daily income of $16.50 for Mexican workers.

The rich in India and China gained among the most. "For
the first time, mainland China has the most billionaires outside the US,"
Forbes said in its statement. "US citizens still dominate the ranks,
but their grip is slipping."

The hedge fund managers and financiers on the list benefitted
directly from the bank bailout, which transferred huge sums of public funds
into the accounts of the largest financial companies. But the billionaires
in every other industry were the indirect recipients the government's wealth
transfer program also.

The Wall Street Journal, commenting on the figures, wrote,
"How did the world's rich get so much richer? Stock markets. In short,
what the stock market had taketh, the stock market hath giveth back­-at
least to the billionaires."

But the stock market recovery itself is no accident;
it was the direct outcome of policies pursued by both US political parties.
The bailout has been financed by a policy of fiscal austerity and high
unemployment. The rapid increase in the wealth of the billionaires is the
result of the impoverishment of tens of millions; it is the other face
of mass unemployment, poverty, utility shutoffs, and foreclosures.

Aside from direct government handouts to the banks and
super-rich, the major driver of the recovery of corporate profits-and thus
the stock market-was productivity growth and corporate downsizing.

In 2009, the unemployment rate rose from 7.7 to 10 percent,
three million jobs were lost, and wages fell dramatically. Millions of
families lost their homes and became dislocated. But productivity, the
amount of output that is produced from each hour of work, rose by 7 percent.

The money freed up through the destruction of social
programs, higher employee output, and corporate restructuring has found
its way into the pockets of the people on Forbes' list.